At least I've given it a go ........

Hi everyone,

Yes it's me again, two days on the trot ....... things must be looking up!

Well it's the middle of the week, already!!!  I'm never quite sure what day of the week it is after a Bank Holiday, I just know that the weekend creeps up that bit faster.
 
Things are looking pretty good in the old craft room though, just one thing left on August's list - the Timmie Tag!
I've not been looking forward to this one at all.  I have ....... wait for this ...... NOTHING, well very little on the materials list except the markers, ooh and the Distress Ink pad.   I didn't have the right colours of stain, hadn't got any of the stamps (I have very little in the way of stamps to do with travel so it would seem).  I didn't have the mask stuff that Tim's used, and my Idea-ology box is looking rather empty at the moment.
But, I gave it a go anyway, that's what it's all about taking the idea and doing your own thing with it.  Plus I couldn't miss one, could I!!?!

This was Tim's inspiration .......

in fact he's made 4!!

All fabulous of course - love the one with the ship.  Mine on the other hand, is not up to scratch this month.....

It started off ok, the colours I used seemed to blend nicely, I went with Gathered Twigs, Iced Spruce and a touch of Antique Linen to lighten things a little.  So far so good ........ next came choosing the stamps.  As I said I have very few travel related images, in the end I went for one of my IndigoBlu sets - Grand Tour III, I do like this set of stamps, the balloon image especially, and I love the compass.

I stamped the balloon slightly off the edge of the tag, and the suitcase down at the bottom, and then started to make my masks.  I love doing the masking technique, it really is a great way to build up your finished pictures. 
Once the balloon and the case were all masked,  I then stamped the Eiffel Tower (one of Barbara's Clarity stamps) on the right of the tag and then made a mask for this.
The trees were then stamped along the bottom, using the Pumice Stone Distress marker to ink the stamp.  Next I started to fill in the background around the main images.  I used one of Sam Poole's designs the Postcard Background stamp, and added a bit of colour with the Compass image from Grand Tour III, inked up using the markers again.
I finished off by adding a couple of small Paris postmarks using a Tim Holtz stamp from one of his clear sets.

I love the look of layers that you can achieve with masks, it's not a difficult technique at all, you just have to think before you start.  Whatever you want to be at the front once everything's finished, needs to be stamped first and masked and then everything else stamped after, masking as and when needed - great fun.

To finish off I added colour to the balloon using my Distress markers, highlighted the Eiffel Tower with a touch of Clear Stardust pen, and finally added a stamped ticket to the bottom.

I'm glad that's done!


I've also posted on the IndigoBlu DT Blog today.  For those of you who saw Kay on the telly on Saturday, and those that didn't, I've posted the details for one of my card designs that she did a demo of .......

Thanks also to those of you yesterday wishing Chris well at Uni.  He's not long to go now before it's back to the life of a student, for a while anyway.  I am going to miss him, although it does mean that the food in the fridge will last longer and there'll always be a cold beer.  Not to mention the ironing pile shrinking to something that doesn't remind me of a small mountain.  Speaking of which that's the next job on today's list - oh joy!

I can't quite believe I'm saying this but, I'm actually going to start September's 'To Do' list tomorrow - whoo hoo!  What's the betting I'll still be on the last minute with most things though.  There's no fun in being super organised is there!

Thanks for popping by today.  After yesterday's little blip in the weather over here where we had a spot of rain, Mr. Sunshine is back today.  Maybe summer is going to last a little longer after all.

Cheerio for now

Linda

xx

Time for a break

Hi everyone,
Phew! I'm having one of those weeks again.  It's non-stop in the old craft room, I have a list as long as my arm and it doesn't seem to be getting any shorter!
I decided to take a break from DT stuff this morning and squeeze in a couple of quick Blog challenges. 

First up is this weeks Less is More.
Being the first of the month,  it's COLOUR week, and Chrissie and Mandi have chosen ......

                           BROWN & PINK

It's one of my favourite colour combinations so I couldn't wait to get started.   Here's what I came up with ......

This is one of my all time favourite Clarity stamps - the Sketched Lady.  I just love her, she's so elegant and you can dress her up and change her look in so many ways.
Here I've used a fabulous technique I saw Barbara Gray do at a Craft Show many years ago.  I love watching Barbara create pieces of artwork, she makes it all look so easy.

I stamped the image of the lady using Vintage Sepia Versafine ink - my brown colour, then created a couple of masks.  One to cover the whole of the lady while I did the background.  For this I used an Eiffel Tower clear stamp from a set from the Lost and Found collection by My Minds Eye, again stamped in the sepia ink. With the mask still in place I used a piece of copy paper and a make-up sponge to add a little ink to ground the tower and add a bit of depth.  
The second mask had the dress and the hat cut away, so that I could stamp a design through and change the outfit. I used one of Barbara's 'clever corner' stamps to do this, unfortunately I'm not sure which one it was, but any of them will do.  The colour was Worn Lipstick Distress Ink - my pink colour.  I added a tiny gem just to finish it all off.
The sentiment, which I think is perfect for this, is from a clear set of stamps by Butterfly Kisses. 

Here's the piece of artwork that Barbara did - yes I have a Barbara Gray original!  
You can see that she's also used the corner stamp to create a matching border on the card.  These little stamps are well worth investing in, they're so useful for doing a lot more than just corners.


Well, I suppose I'd better get  back to the old craft room, still lots to do.  Next on the list is more samples for Kay's Indigo Blu show on Create and Craft.  I have NEW Christmas stamps and they are soooo nice.  Watch this space, I'll give you a sneaky look at them soon.  

Thanks for popping by today.  Tomorrow it's Twinchie time if you fancy taking a look.
See you then.

Linda

x